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Cloud-native application protection · September 2026 Edition

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Orca Security

Three of twelve models named Microsoft Defender for Cloud first on the direct prompt; three named Orca Security. Both were named by all twelve models and Microsoft Defender for Cloud carries 47 labels and Orca Security 40, so the shares are not directly comparable.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

endorsed leader

Named in seven categories this edition.

Orca Security

accepted challenger

Named in five categories this edition.

First-choice share30%16%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate4%5%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#3A position in a field of 11; printed, not drawn.
Labels4740A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Microsoft Defender for Cloud reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Wiz was named alongside these two in ten of the twelve direct answers. Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud · Wiz vs Orca Security

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the cloud-native application protection page.

By framing

How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Microsoft Defender for CloudFirst choices, of twelve modelsOrca Security
Direct33
Paraphrase13
Comparative02
Budget-constrained1112 against Orca Security
Scale-constrained01
Negative012 against Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.

The direct prompt

The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Orca Security stood in it.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud first, Orca Security an alternative

3 of 12 modelsOrca Security was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Mistral SmallMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Wiz alternatives: Orca Security, Sysdig Secure
GLM 4.7 FlashXMicrosoft Defender for Cloud, Wiz alternatives: Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Rapid7 InsightCloudSec, SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security, Sysdig
MiniMax M2.5Microsoft Defender for Cloud alternatives: Orca Security, Wiz

Orca Security first, Microsoft Defender for Cloud an alternative

3 of 12 modelsMicrosoft Defender for Cloud was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.
Claude Haiku 4.5Orca Security alternatives: Prisma Cloud, Sysdig
Gemini 3.5 FlashOrca Security alternatives: Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Sysdig Secure, Upwind, Wiz
Grok 4.1 FastOrca Security alternatives: Aqua Security, FortiCNAPP, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Sysdig, Wiz

Neither was the first choice, one was named

4 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.
Perplexity SonarWiz alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security, Prisma Cloud, Sysdig
DeepSeek V4 FlashWiz alternatives: Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security
Qwen 3.7 FlashWiz alternatives: Aikido Security, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security
Kimi K2Wiz alternatives: Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Orca Security

Neither was named

2 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.
GPT-5.4 miniWiz alternatives: Sysdig Secure
Llama 4 Maverickno first choice

Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Microsoft Defender for Cloud leads by forty-four points.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud46%#1 of 10
Orca Security2%#7 of 10
The full small business standing →
Mid-marketThe figures above
Microsoft Defender for Cloud leads by fourteen points.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud30%#2 of 11
Orca Security16%#3 of 11
The full mid-market standing →
Enterprise
Microsoft Defender for Cloud leads by twenty-one points.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud28%#2 of 9
Orca Security8%#4 of 9
The full enterprise standing →

What the models said about Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Two of two in this category shown.

“Avoid relying exclusively on AWS Security Hub, Azure Defender, or Google Security Command Center as your primary CNAPP.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“Wiz and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are the top recommended CNAPPs due to their balance of features, ease of use, and strong mid-market fit” Mistral Small · direct prompt · first choice

What the models said about Orca Security

Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Three of three in this category shown.

“often out of reach because they typically require high annual contract minimums” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · soft negative
“Very strong on data security posture management (DSPM) and attack path analysis, often highly competitive on pricing for mid-market companies.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“Choose Wiz or Orca Security if you have a multi-cloud footprint, want immediate visibility without installing agents” Gemini 3.5 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared
Wiz vs Microsoft Defender for CloudWiz vs Orca SecurityThe full CNAPP standing

Comparisons are drawn for the top three products in each category. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.